小简介
在众多拉美新偶像中,最成功的一位当推Ricky Martin。他原是波多黎各青少年组合 Menudo 的成员,他最近的一张西班牙语专辑《Vuelve》在全球卖出了6000万张,单在美国就卖了100万张。 但对于美国的非拉美裔歌迷来说,他们直到今年2月的葛莱美颁奖礼上才真正认识了Martin。他的热力演出使《Vuelve》的销量狂涨5倍,并帮助专辑重回“公告牌杂志拉丁歌曲50佳”榜单的首位,并进入了“公告牌杂志200佳专辑榜的78位。从那时起,他在今年6月推出的英文专辑里的首支先期单曲“Livin'La Vida Loca”一下子就成了电台和MTV台的新宠。
Martin看似一夜成名,其实他的成功是经由唱片公司精心策划的。唱片监制,Columbia公司的Joa nna Ifrah 说:“我们制作这张专辑《RICKY MARTIN》花了两年半的时间。我们可以选择很多方式来做专辑,但我们想做得与众不同。不能是像 The Backstreet Boys 或是 'N Sync 那样的, Martin 已是在拉美成名已久的知名歌手,但却在这儿不为人知。所以关键在于秉承他一贯的拉丁风格。”
Ricky Martin was one of the biggest teen idols in Latin America during the '90s and a major figure in American pop music by the end of the decade. A lead singer of Menudo, Martin was blessed with good looks and a nice voice, which helped him become a Latin music star. He also became an actor, earning praise from the Mexican motion picture industry and starring on the American soap opera General Hospital, where he played Miguel Morez, a bartender who sings on the weekends.
Martin (born December 24, 1971) was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. As a child, he sang in the choir and performed in school plays. When he was six, he began acting in television commercials. Shortly afterward, he took professional singing and acting lessons, which paved the way for his auditions for Menudo. In 1984, when he was 12 years old, he became a member of Menudo. For the next five years, he was the lead singer of the group, helping it to become an international sensation. Once he outgrew Menudo in 1989, he went back home to Puerto Rico, where he completed high school. After graduation, he moved to New York, where he simply relaxed for several months.
Following a few months of inactivity, he began to work his way back into the entertainment industry. He returned to Mexico, where he acted on-stage for a year before returning to the music industry. In 1991, he released his self-titled debut album, which he co-wrote with his fellow Menudo alumnus Robi Rosa, who would become a regular collaborator over the course of Martin's career (often credited as Ian Blake). The album became a sizable hit on the Latin charts. Two years later, he followed it with the Juan Carlos Calderon-produced Me Amarás, which was an even bigger hit, launching him to superstar status in Latin America. In January 1994, he joined the cast of the soap opera General Hospital, playing Miguel Morez. His recurring role was so successful that it landed him a role on Broadway, where he played Marius in Les Miserables. He left General Hospital to perform in the production and stayed with the play for about a year.
In 1995, he released his third album, A Medio Vivir, a record that had a harder rock edge yet also featured such Latin styles as flamenco and cumbia. In early 1998, he released his fourth album, Vuelve. His first English-language pop album — which like his first long-player also happened to be titled Ricky Martin — was released in the spring of 1999; it made him an international superstar thanks to blockbuster singles including "Livin' la Vida Loca" and "She's All I Ever Had." A year later, Martin sizzled again with the release of Sound Loaded. His biggest Spanish-language hits were collected on 2001's La Historia, while 2003's Almas del Silencio was an album of new Spanish material. Life, from 2005, was a return to English-language pop. Martin then released MTV Unplugged in 2006 in both CD and DVD formats.